Association | USA Rugby |
---|---|
Sport | Rugby union |
Founded | 1975 |
Division | Division I-AA |
No. of teams | 10 |
Country | USA |
Region | Central USA |
Most recent champion(s) | Kansas (2022) |
Most titles | Arkansas (2 titles) |
The Heart of America Rugby Football Union is a college rugby conference playing in Division I-AA, with membership composed mostly of Big 12, Big Ten and SEC schools (and many of these schools enjoying longstanding rivalries from the former Big Eight Conference). HOA organizes a league competition with the winner qualifying for the national playoffs, and every fall hosts a rugby sevens tournament with the winner qualifying for the national sevens championships.
Heart of America was a Division 2 conference until 2011, with Arkansas and Missouri ranked among the top teams in Division 2. [1] In summer 2011, however, with the creation of the Premier College Division (Division I-A), several conferences including HOA decided to move up to Division I-AA. [2]
The HOA conference is led by Conference Commissioner Bill Sexton of Truman State University. [3]
The current member schools (and the date they joined the conference) are: [4]
Institution | Nickname | City | State | Founded | Affiliation | Enrollment | Joined HOA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Iowa State University | Cyclones | Ames | IA | 1858 | Big 12 | 29,887 | 2012 |
University of Arkansas | Razorbacks | Fayetteville | AR | 1871 | SEC | 27,549 | 1980, 2021 |
University of Kansas | Jayhawks | Lawrence | KS | 1865 | Big 12 | 30,004 | 1980 |
University of Iowa | Hawkeyes | Iowa City | IA | 1847 | Big Ten | 32,948 | 2019 |
Kansas State University | Wildcats | Manhattan | KS | 1863 | Big 12 | 23,588 | 1980 |
University of Missouri | Tigers | Columbia | MO | 1839 | SEC | 34,255 | 1980 |
Oklahoma State University | Cowboys | Stillwater | OK | 1890 | Big 12 | 23,307 | 1980 |
Truman State University | Bulldogs | Kirksville | MO | 1867 | GLVC | 5,880 | 1989 |
University of Minnesota | Golden Gophers | Minneapolis | MN | 1851 | Big Ten | 49,148 | 2021 |
University of Nebraska | Cornhuskers | Lincoln | NE | 1869 | Big Ten | 25,820 | 2015 |
Member notes:
Year | Champion | Runner Up |
---|---|---|
2009-10 | Arkansas | Central Missouri |
2010-11 | Arkansas | Central Missouri |
2011-12 | Missouri | Arkansas |
2012-13 | Lindenwood | Arkansas |
2013-14 | Missouri | Iowa State |
2014-15 | Missouri | Arkansas |
2015-16 | Arkansas | Missouri |
2016-17 | Arkansas | Missouri |
2017-18 | Missouri | Kansas |
2018-19 | Iowa State | Kansas |
2021-22 | Kansas | Minnesota |
2022-23 | Iowa State | Minnesota |
2023-24 | Iowa State | Kansas |
The HOA sevens tournament is played every fall among the eight members of the HOA conference and a limited number of additional Division 1 schools. The winner of the HOA sevens tournament qualifies for the annual USA Rugby sevens national championship.
The HOA sevens tournament is one of a number of college rugby tournaments that are tapping into the increased interest of rugby sevens while also targeting traditional collegiate conference rivalries. The HOA developed this competition due to the increasing popularity of rugby sevens throughout the United States, particularly since the 2009 announcement adding rugby sevens to the Summer Olympics, and in the wake of the success of the Collegiate Rugby Championship rugby sevens tournament broadcast live on NBC every year.
Date | Location | Champion | Score | Runner Up | Third |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sep 24, 2011 | Lawrence, KS | Oklahoma | ??? | Kansas State | Arkansas |
Sep 22, 2012 | Lawrence, KS | Lindenwood | 21-5 | Arkansas | Missouri |
April 16, 2022 | Iowa City, IA | Iowa State | 21-19 | Nebraska | Missouri |
April 22, 2023 | Columbia, MO | Iowa State | 27-20 | Nebraska | Minnesota |
| April 20, 2024 || align=center| Iowa City, IA || align=center| Nebraska ||align=center| 41-0|| align=center| Iowa State || align=center| Minnesota |}
The Dartmouth College Big Green are the varsity and club athletic teams representing Dartmouth College, an American university located in Hanover, New Hampshire. Dartmouth's teams compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Ivy League conference, as well as in the ECAC Hockey conference. The college offers 34 varsity teams, 17 club sports, and 24 intramural teams. Sports teams are heavily ingrained in the culture of the college and serve as a social outlet, with 75% of the student body participating in some form of athletics.
The Colorado Buffaloes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Colorado Boulder. The university sponsors 16 varsity sports teams. Both the men's and women's teams are called the Buffaloes or, rarely, the Golden Buffaloes. "Lady Buffs" referred to the women's teams beginning in the 1970s, but was officially dropped in 1993. The nickname was selected by the campus newspaper in a contest with a $5 prize in 1934 won by Andrew Dickson of Boulder.
The Towson Tigers, formerly the Towson College Knights, are the athletics teams of Towson University. All of the major athletic teams compete in the Coastal Athletic Association with 19 Division I athletic teams. Gymnastics competes in the EAGL conference, having rejoined the league in the Spring of 2012.
The UCF Knights are the athletic teams that represent the University of Central Florida in unincorporated Orange County, Florida near Orlando. The Knights participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I as a member of the Big 12 Conference. Since men's soccer is not sponsored by the Big 12, they play in the Sun Belt Conference.
The Lindenwood Lions and Lady Lions are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Lindenwood University, located in St. Charles, Missouri, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the NCAA Division I ranks, primarily competing in the Ohio Valley Conference for most of its sports since the 2022–23 academic year.
The Davenport Panthers are the athletic teams that represent Davenport University, located in Caledonia Township, Michigan, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the NCAA Division II level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) for most of its sports as a provisional member since the 2017–18 academic year. The Panthers previously competed in the Wolverine–Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) from 2005–06 to 2016–17.
The Northeastern University Rugby Football Club is a college rugby union team representing Northeastern University. The club competes in the Liberty Conference of Division 1-A Rugby and is governed by USA Rugby.
Division 1-A Rugby is the highest level of college rugby within the United States and is administered by USA Rugby. Division 1-A rugby is modeled after NCAA athletic competitions, with the 40 D1-A rugby schools divided into seven conferences: East, Midwest, Rocky Mountain, California, Big Ten, Lonestar River, and Independent.
The East Coast Rugby Conference is a college rugby conference, founded in 2011 after USA Rugby decided that collegiate rugby teams would leave their local area unions and form independent conferences. Seven teams participated in the inaugural season.
The Collegiate Rugby Championship (CRC) is an annual college rugby sevens tournament. The CRC began as the highest profile college rugby sevens competition in the United States, with the tournament broadcast live on NBC from 2010 to 2017, on ESPN News and ESPN3 from 2018 to 2019, The Rugby Network in 2021 and 2023, and on CBS Sports in 2022. The CRC capitalized on the surge in popularity of rugby at major universities following the 2009 announcement of the addition of rugby sevens to the Summer Olympics. Beginning in 2021, the tournament has been organized by National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) under license for the name and logo. Since the CRC franchise was licensed to NCR, the tournament has primarily featured comparatively smaller universities, as USA Rugby, recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the sport's National Governing Body (NGB), holds the official championship in June 2024.
Peter Tiberio is an American rugby union player who plays for the Seattle Seawolves in Major League Rugby (MLR).
The Atlantic Coast Rugby League was an annual college rugby competition played every spring among eight universities—seven from the Atlantic Coast Conference, plus Navy. The league was disestablished in 2016.
The Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference (SCRC) is an annual college rugby competition played every spring among 10 universities from the Southeastern Conference.
The USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships is an annual competition among the top men's college rugby teams in the country to decide a national champion in rugby sevens. USA Rugby organized the championship to capitalize on the surge in popularity of rugby sevens following the 2009 announcement of the addition of rugby to the Summer Olympics. USA Rugby recognized that rugby sevens is growing in popularity, participation and interest. At the time of the foundation of the tournament, rugby was one of the fastest growing sports across college campuses. This tournament is a major contributor to the selection process for USA Rugby Olympic athletes.
The Red River Rugby Collegiate Conference is a college rugby conference in Division 1-A Rugby, formed during summer 2014. The conferences consists of many of the same schools from the Big 12 Conference that had previously been in the Allied Rugby Conference adding the Texas Christian University rugby team.
The Wheeling Cardinals are the athletic teams that represent Wheeling University, located in Wheeling, West Virginia, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the Division II level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in the Mountain East Conference (MEC) as a founding member since the 2013–14 academic year. The Cardinals previously competed in the defunct West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) from 1957–58 to 2012–13.
Big Ten Universities is a Division 1-A college rugby conference founded in summer 2012 by ten of the twelve schools that then made up the Big Ten Conference. The Big Ten Universities was formed to improve rugby among the Big Ten schools by capitalizing on traditional Big Ten rivalries, increasing the number of fans, attracting talented high school rugby players, and playing other regional schools, which would create more competitive matchups with traditional rivals.
The Lindenwood Lions men's rugby team represents Lindenwood University in college rugby. Lindenwood plays in Division I-A in the Mid-South conference. The team is coached by Josh Macy. The Lindenwood men's rugby team won the 2012 USA Rugby Division II national championship in its inaugural season, and finished second in Division I-AA for the 2012-13 season. Following the 2012-13 season, Lindenwood moved up to Division I-A for the 2013-14 season. Lindenwood has also had success in Sevens. The Lions won the D1 7s National Championship in 2015 & the Red Bull University 7s Championship.
The PAC Rugby Conference was a college rugby conference composed of four schools from the Pac-12 Conference that competed against each other in Division 1-A Rugby. It was formed in 2012 with six teams, with conference play beginning in February 2013 to compete in Division 1-AA. In 2016, PAC added USC and Stanford and dropped Oregon State, and moved up to D1-A. Despite only recently moving up from D1-AA affiliation, the PAC has historically been one of the strongest conferences in college rugby, with five of its members consistently ranked in the Top 25 overall. The PAC Rugby Conference began play on February 2, 2013, with Cal beating Arizona State at Witter Field in Berkeley.
College rugby is played by men and women throughout colleges and universities in the United States. Seven-a-side and fifteen-a-side variants of rugby union are most commonly played. Most collegiate rugby programs do not fall under the auspices of the NCAA and are instead governed by National Collegiate Rugby and USA Rugby, two nationwide governing bodies. 27 women's programs participate in the NCAA.